Hylomorphism
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Recent papers in Hylomorphism
VII-ARISTOTLES HYLOMORPHISM RECONCEIVED MARY LOUISE GILL Metaphysics Θ treats potentiality (δύναμις) and actuality (ἐνέργεια), and many scholars think that Aristotle broaches these topics once he has answered his main questions in Ζ and... more
It is hard to think of an area of Christian theology that provides more scope for interdisciplinary conversation than the doctrine of creation. This doctrine not only invites reflection on an intellectual concept: it calls for... more
This is an earlier paper (1992), published in the journal of Ancient Greek philosophy, Apeiron. In de Anima Aristotle considers several candidate definitions aiming to answer the question, "What is a living thing?" And "What distinguishes... more
Iste articulus proponit summam brevem hylemorphicae philosophiae naturalis et metaphysicae Divi Thomae Aquinatis contrarie iuxtapositam ad "reinventiones hodiernae" hylemorphismi ad usum hodiernae metaphysicae et philosophiae mentis.... more
Functionalism remains the most promising strategy for 'naturalizing' the mind. We argue that when functions are defined in terms of conditionals, whether indicative, probabilistic or counterfactual, the resulting version of functionalism... more
The so-called Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics has been extant now for nearly sixty years, beginning as H. Everett III’s doctoral dissertation in 1957 [?], with further contributions by B. DeWitt and N. Graham in their 1973... more
CV 2021 Ph.D. in Philosophy
The relationship between self-consciousness, Aristotelian ontology, and Cartesian duality is far closer than it has been thought to be. There is no valid inference either from considerations of Aristotle’s hylomorphism or from the... more
Body-soul theory is one of "the most intensely studied subjects in the history of philosophy" (Davidson, 1992). Socrates was the first ancient thinker to suggest that the psyche (soul) be the essence of the human being. Plato then built... more
This paper explores medieval Aristotelian perspectives on the phenomenon which we refer to today as a “congenital disability,” i.e. a disability present at or before birth. It was common in the Middle Ages to view congenital disabilities... more
'Toward Responsive Architectures' is a part of the exploration of the interconnectedness of what surrounds us. The focus of the Responsive Architectures: Subtle Technologies collection is on a new generation of interactive systems within... more
Despite an infelicitous tradition downgrading their status, technical artefacts are increasingly acquiring their place in contemporary ontology. However, although most metaphysicians currently allow for an ontological consideration of... more
Ce premier volume du dossier d'habilitation à diriger des recherches expose l'unité de mon travail depuis la maîtrise (nouvellement nommée Master 1) et résume quelques-uns de mes principaux travaux depuis la thèse de doctorat "Sens et... more
In this paper, I offer an analysis of Plotinus’ argument for the existence of a quasi-psychic entity, the so-called ‘trace of soul’, that functions an immanent cause of life for an organism’s body. I argue that Plotinus posits this entity... more
paperback and epub: https://wipfandstock.com/the-philosophy-of-saint-thomas-aquinas.html hardcover: https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Saint-Thomas-Aquinas/dp/1498279783/ Kindle:... more
This chapter proposes that Aquinas's philosophy of the human person is fundamentally motivated by his vision of the distinctive unity of the human way of life, illustrated by (a) his account of the human soul as the " horizon " of the... more
Mémoire de master
(Master Histoire de la Philosophie - Université Paris-Sorbonne)
2015
(Master Histoire de la Philosophie - Université Paris-Sorbonne)
2015
In this chapter, I argue that Aristotle's doctrine of hylomorphism, which conceived the natural world as consisting of substances which are metaphysically composed of matter and form, is ripe for rehabilitation in the light of quantum... more
This article is the second part of a two-part essay. The first part was published as: "Hylomorphic Animalism, Emergentism, and the Challenge of New Mechanisms in Neuroscience" Scientia et Fides 5 (2) /2017, 9-38 Abstract for Part II:... more
In this paper, I investigate the foundations of Plotinus’ innovative theory that prime matter is unaffectable. I begin by showing that Plotinus’ main arguments for this thesis (in Ennead 3.6) all rely upon the controversial assumption... more
The leading idea of the book is to focus on the common roots of Islamic and Western traditions and to increase awareness of the chances of systematic philosophical dispute, with the aim to promote a substantial dialogue on an academic... more
"Mark Spencer is a rising star among Catholic philosophers. This is a big book in every sense. In confident and accessible prose, Spencer argues that the mystery of human personhood can best be understood by drawing together perspectives... more
Many proponents of methodological nonreductionism in contemporary science find the notion of downward causation (DC) a sine qua non of the strong (ontological) version of emergence (EM), which strives to give an account of the irreducible... more
In this essay I argue that contemporary versions of Aristotelian hylomorphism and the “new mechanist philosophy” in biology, neuroscience, and psychology share significant commitments about the reality of the organized causal components... more
Neither Aristotle nor Aquinas assumes the reality of the evolution of species. Their systems of thought, however, remain open to the new data, offering an essential contribution to the ongoing debate between scientific, philosophical, and... more
The greatest challenge to the fundamental reality of human agency comes from physicalism—more specifically, microphysicalism. Defenders of physicalism (e.g., Brian McLaughlin, Jaegwon Kim, David Papineau) often point to the ontological... more
There is clearly some intimate relation between Aristotelian form and the structure or organization of a composite thing. In recent years, some neo-Aristotelian philosophers have proposed that this relation is simply identity: forms are... more
Since the Galilean Scientific Revolution in the 17 th century, and especially since the death of vitalism and the rise of Darwinian evolutionary theory in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, biologists have treated the Aristotelian... more
Ce texte est la version "brouillon" d'un article à paraître dans O. Lizzini et J.-B. Brenet, La philosophie arabe à l'étude. Sens, limites et défis d'une discipline moderne, Paris, Vrin, 2018 (sous presse).
Aquinas is known to have held to delayed homonization. This article investigates the implication of this for arguments in favour of abortion.
Abstract for Part 1. "Hylomorphic Animalism, Emergentism, and the Challenge of the New Mechanist Philosophy of Neuroscience" This article, the first of a two-part essay, presents an account of Aristotelian hylomorphic animalism that... more
This paper examines the hylomorphic theory (the doctrine that body and soul constitute the Form and Matter, respectively, of a human being) espoused by Mark Eugenikos (1392-1445) in his treatise 'On the Resurrection.' It seeks,... more
FR: Forme et relation – L’inquiétante étrangeté de la scène du matérialisme. Cet article entend chercher un matérialisme largement ignoré dans les discussions philosophiques actuelles, qui tire son origine de spéculations sur la... more
The anti-reductionist character of the recent philosophy of biology and the dynamic development of the science of emergent properties prove that the time is ripe to reintroduce the thought of Aristotle, the first advocate of a “top-down”... more
I have two objectives. First, I want to argue that the neo-Aristotelian vision of how biological entities fit into the physical world (which I shall begin by describing) is inconsistent with ‘the Physical Given’ (which I shall endeavour... more